I Fought for You
by ChoCedric
Summary: Sequel to I'll Fight for You. Cho's point of view of the final battle. Afterwards, she lies dying in St. Mungo's, and a person she has wanted to see for three years comes to take her to Heaven. Cho/Cedric.


Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

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I Fought for You

By: ChoCedric

There were sounds of battle all around Cho Chang as she stood beside Marietta, throwing curses at Death Eater after Death Eater. Hogwarts, which had once been a place of life and laughter, was now full of death and destruction. Bodies were falling left and right, and it took all of Cho's concentration to fling hexes at her opponents.

Over the last three years, Cho had had a very hard time adjusting to life. Ever since her boyfriend and the love of her life, Cedric Diggory, had been murdered, she wasn't the same person. The image of Cedric's lifeless eyes staring into the sky burned itself into her mind and would forever remain in her nightmares, and it also haunted her waking thoughts. She remembered screaming at him to wake up, holding his hand, seeing him so, so still. Her tears for Cedric had been never-ending.

Then she'd had the disastrous fiasco with Harry Potter in her sixth year. The truth was, she hadn't really liked Harry romantically, she had just been very confused. Harry was the last person to have seen Cedric alive, and she desperately wanted to know what had happened. Even when she'd said, "I really like you, Harry," under the mistletoe, she'd never had the feelings for him that she had for Cedric. Cedric had been sweet, loving, kind, and caring, but in her opinion Harry had been nothing but the selfish Prat-Who-Lived who wouldn't tell her anything, ANYTHING, about Cedric's last moments. She had forgiven Harry now, and understood that wanting to ask him about it was wrong because it caused him pain too, but oh, she thought he'd understand! She needed some reassurance from somebody, and she thought Harry would be willing to give it. Cho spent night after night wondering if Cedric had suffered, what his last thoughts had been of; these questions niggled at her for ages.

The reason why she had defended Marietta so vehemently after the Dumbledore's Army incident was because Marietta had been the only one to stay with her and console her through her endless grief. The other so-called friends she'd hung around with left her when she wasn't the happy, smiling Cho she used to be. Some friends, she'd thought bitterly time after time. What if their boyfriend was brutally and cruelly murdered, the life snuffed out of him like the life of an insect? Her friends were nothing but superficial, only caring about clothes and shopping and whether they looked cool. After Cedric died, Cho couldn't care less. All she knew was that she thought life wasn't worth living anymore without him.

Contrary to popular belief, she'd been very angry at Marietta for betraying Harry. But she defended her because she didn't tell Cho to just "get over Cedric and move on." It was more complicated than that. She'd loved him, for Merlin's sake! She had ended up forgiving Marietta for the DA incident, for Marietta had explained that she was scared that her mother would get into serious trouble from the Ministry if she didn't tell Umbridge what was going on.

Cho had tried to take her own life at the end of sixth year because she just couldn't deal with the pain anymore. The rumor that she and Michael Corner were dating was false; he was just a good friend and unlike the famous prat Potter, allowed her to cry on his shoulder and talk about Cedric all she liked. Her parents caught her almost taking a whole bottle of pills, and immediately rushed her to see a counselor. The woman counselor got her to stop thinking about suicide, but there was still a massive hole in her heart where Cedric had been. But at least she made progress, for the counselor convinced her that Cedric would definitely want her to live, and be happy. So Cho tried to do just that. She went into healing as a profession after her seventh year, and tried to go back to the smiling girl she'd been before.

As the fighting continued around her, she was unable to dodge all the hexes being thrown her way. But she kept battling. She'd avenge Cedric and all those whose lives were meaningless to the Death Eaters, she'd promised herself that. She'd take care of all the bastards who deemed a human life not important.

"Look out, Marietta!" she screamed as a Death Eater cast Avada Kedavra, but it was too late. In horror, she watched her best friend fall, the best friend who'd been there for her through everything. She couldn't bear it. With a howl of grief and despair, she then started fighting with a vigor and a strength more ferocious than she'd ever fought with before. She threw cutting curses and stupefy hexes at the Death Eaters, but there seemed to be more and more of them.

Finally, a Death Eater got her with a Reductor curse. She fell to the ground in unbelievable agony, but somehow didn't drop her wand. She continued screaming curses and hexes at the Death Eaters, but as time passed, she grew weaker and weaker. She frantically held on to her wand, still trying to fight, but she had no strength left. "It's okay," she heard a soft voice say, and realized it was Susan Bones, a Hufflepuff, who'd knelt over Cho. "You can stop fighting now."

"But ... Cedric and Marietta ... I must do it for Cedric and Marietta ..." Cho muttered, the edges of her vision starting to go black.

"It's all right, Cho. You've done all you can. You've fought well. You're going to be fine."

Cho could hang on no longer, so she listened to Susan's soft words and closed her eyes, letting unconsciousness claim her.

She was walking through a tunnel. She didn't know where it led to, but it was a long, winding one. Where am I? she thought, memories slowly coming back to her. She remembered the battle of Hogwarts, seeing Marietta fall, fighting vigorously with Death Eaters...''she kept walking, not knowing where she was going, but knew instinctively that this had to lead somewhere.

She walked for ages, and when she felt like this would never end, she started to see a light at the end, and the outline of a figure started to come into focus. As Cho looked at the figure, she couldn't believe her eyes. Her heart ached; was this some kind of cruel joke? Were her dreams and nightmares taunting her again? Was she again about to look into those lifeless eyes, doing nothing but staring into the night sky? She started to run.

But as she got nearer, emotions hit her from all sides, like a tidal wave. Standing there near the light, his gray eyes holding a loving expression, stood Cedric Diggory, dressed in fancy dress robes and wearing a gentle smile. He held his arms wide open for a hug, and Cho couldn't get there fast enough. She flung herself at him, starting to sob.

"Cedric!" she cried. "Cedric, is that really you?"

Cedric softly stroked Cho's hair and said, "Yes, love, it's really me. I'm right here, Cho. It's me." He held her as she cried tears of joy. For three years she'd longed for this moment, longed to throw her arms around a Cedric who had life again, whose eyes were filled with love and laughter. "Oh, Cho," he soothed, "please don't cry, love. I'm here."

After a few minutes, Cho lifted her head from Cedric's shoulder and said croakily, "Am I--am I d-dead?"

"No," Cedric said gently, "you're not. But you're pretty close. Your body is in St. Mungo's Hospital. Your injuries in the final battle were very serious."

Cho's shoulders sagged. "Cedric, I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I didn't manage to get rid of all those evil Death Eaters. I fought for you, Cedric, and I couldn't get to all of them."

"Hush, Cho, it's all right," Cedric said, lifting her chin so she could look into those warm, gray eyes. "I never would have said you had to get all of them; I never would have even been disappointed if you hadn't fought. I wanted you to live, Cho," he said softly. "After I left I was so worried about you. You were so sad all the time, I hated to see you like that." He kissed her softly on the forehead. "I love you, Cho, and I wanted you to be happy. It wouldn't have mattered to me if you'd dated Michael Corner or had a long-term relationship with Harry. I wanted to see you loved and happy, Cho. If another man wanted to love you, you wouldn't have been unfaithful to me. If I couldn't be with you, I wanted you taken care of."

"Cedric," Cho said, starting to sob again, "I couldn't live without you. G-god, you don't know what your death did to me. Did you suffer? Did V-V-Voldemort torture you?"

"No, love," Cedric whispered. "He didn't. It was quick and painless, and my last thoughts were of you. I knew you wouldn't take it well. I hated to see so many tears come out of those beautiful eyes."

"I'm sorry," Cho whispered again. "I know I've been a horrible, snobby bitch the last three years. You must be really disappointed in me."

Cedric held her closer. "Of course I'm not disappointed," he soothed. "I was just devastated to see you always looking so sad. I knew that someday we'd be together again."

Cho and Cedric stood there in silence for a minute. Then Cho asked, "Is he gone? Is V-Voldemort gone? Is the war over?"

"Yes, it is. Harry's done it," Cedric said gently. "He's defeated him. And he's going to live happily now, with Ginny Weasley. So don't worry about Harry. The world will be much safer now that Voldemort's gone."

"Thank God," breathed Cho. She sighed in contentment, breathing in the smell of Cedric, the wonderful scent of cologne and love. The light from Heaven's gates seemed to be beckoning Cho to come closer. "Cedric," she said after a minute, "is it my time to go? I want to go with you so badly. I don't want to leave my parents and make them unhappy, but Marietta's gone now, too, and I can't go on without you and her."

Cedric looked at her, a sad smile on his face. "I wanted you to live so badly, sweetheart," he said, "but yes, it is your time. We can be together now, dance in the moonlight like we used to. We can even fly, we don't need broomsticks here." He stroked her hand lovingly.

Tears of relief swam in Cho's eyes and she buried her head back on Cedric's shoulder. "C-can I say goodbye to my parents? Where are they?" she asked.

"Look over there," Cedric said, and at his thought, a door appeared behind him and Cho. As Cho turned around, she could see through the door, a hospital room. She saw her own body lying on a bed, with a nurse sitting by it. Her mother and father were also there, holding her hands and whispering soothing words to her. Cho looked at them for a few minutes, silently willing them to be better about her death than she had been about Cedric's. She didn't want to see them sad all the time either.

After some time, she turned back to Cedric, who held out his arms for another hug. Stepping into them, Cho said, "Is Marietta here? Did she make it safely?"

"Yes, she did," smiled Cedric. "She's waiting for us."

Cho smiled happily and took Cedric's hand. Before she knew it, a wonderful sensation was filling her. She took one last look at her family and then she felt herself flying, flying, flying into the light. She and Cedric both had soft smiles on their faces, and up ahead, they saw Marietta Edgecombe smiling too, waiting for them.

And at St. Mungo's Hospital in the middle of the night, Cho Chang stopped breathing. The grief-stricken parents held each other and cried, but they knew she was safe now. She'd fought hard in the final battle, and given her all. Cho's mother was a wizard and her father was a muggle, but despite their differences, both of them knew about the magic of love. Both of them knew about Cedric, about how much Cho and this young man had loved each other. They sincerely hoped that he would take care of their Cho for them, and they knew their daughter was finally happy and at peace.

Finis


End file.
